Spent a glorious week in Europe and 4 full, action packed, fun filled weeks at home and now I'm back in good old Afghanistan. I got quite a bit of smoking done while I was gone :D The short story is that I tried about a dozen pipes and my favorites were my Vauen straight volcano, Johs bent bulldog, and a no name churchwarden I bought at my local B&M. I left out my true favorite from that list because I only got to smoke it once and it really is in a whole class by itself, but I didn't get to really try it out because I took too long to get it before I left: a Bob Gilbert (aka Staffwalker I think) original. That man truly knows how to make a beautiful, nice smoking pipe. I didn't think to get any pics but it's an amazing looking, feeling, and smoking pipe. If you're ever in the north TX area or at one of the shows where he sells then definitely stop by his table. All that being said I also tried a whole lot of different tobaccos. Of the ones I tried my favorites were (in no particular order) H&H Blackhouse, GLP Jackknife Plug, Penzance (after it sat out for a while), Escudo, and Christmas Cheer. Also, Orlik Golden Flake is an amazing smoke for the price. I also got to sample all of the JFH Middle Earth series which were all great. There's really no better way to relax than sitting by a lake in a rainstorm (under a pavilion of course) while smoking some Old Tobey out of a good churchwarden. For some reason I never thought to bust open my FVF but I guess it will just be that much better when I get home in 8 months or so I tried to stay away from the computer as much as possible while I was gone so I'm sure I missed some good stuff on here. Hopefully I'll be all caught up in a few days.